HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Basketball program stands proud at Carleton University Ravens athletics banquet

By Martin Cleary

The high-profile Carleton University Ravens basketball program owned the spotlight as the 84-year-old postsecondary institution celebrated its most outstanding players, coaches and volunteers at its annual athletics banquet.

Aubrey Dorey-Havens and Kyana-Jade Poulin led the parade of honour as Ravens basketball players received six of the nine major awards, including five student-athletes and one coach.

Dorey-Havens and Poulin were named the male and female athletes of the year respectively and were joined by Marjok Okado as graduating male athlete of the year, Tyanne Matosas-Adderley as female rookie of the year, Tyler Brown as male rookie of the year and men’s basketball head coach Taffe Charles, who shared coach of the year with nordic ski coach Kevin Shields.

Soccer’s Lauren Illman was selected the graduating female athlete of the year. The volunteer of the year was nordic skiing’s Hannah Shields, while Luigi Zagaria (football), Fatima Ramadan (rugby) and Chloe Lachance-Soulard (women’s soccer) were recognized with the inaugural Ravens Community Volunteer Award.

· Aubrey Dorey-Havens, male athlete of the year – His final game of the 2025-26 season is likely his most memorable as he hit a record-setting nine three-point baskets in the gold-medal game and sparked the Ravens to their record-extending 18th U Sports men’s basketball championship. He also was recognized as the national championship tournament MVP. The fifth-best three-point shooter nationally, Dorey-Havens made 56 of his 148 long-distance attempts. He also was named to the OUA first all-star team.

· Kyana-Jade Poulin, female athlete of the year – A Ravens women’s basketball team captain, Poulin counted five of the top-20 regular-season, single-game scoring efforts in program history in 2025-26. She helped her teammates win medals at the OUA level (silver), and the FISU Americas 3×3 championship (gold) as well as earning a fifth-place showing at the U Sports women’s national championship tournament. At the annual Capital Hoops Classic against rival University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, Poulin set a women’s scoring record with 28 points.

· Marjok Okado, graduating male athlete of the year – While scoring 1,000 points, being named to the OUA third all-star team and the OUA all-rookie squad in his career, Okado played a key role in leading the Ravens to three U Sports men’s basketball championships, one OUA championship title and one OUA silver medal.

· Tyanne Matosas-Adderley, female rookie of the year – When Matosas-Adderley came off the bench, she meant business for the Ravens women’s basketball team. She scored 177 points in 2025-26, which ranked her in the top-10 for three-pointers, points and field goals by a rookie among U Sports players and was selected to the OUA all-rookie team.

· Tyler Brown, male rookie of the year – Brown saw 303 minutes of floor time and played in all 22 OUA regular-season games and averaged 9.0 points a game in the U Sports Final 8 national championship tournament. He also was a member of the Ravens men’s U Sports championship gold-medal basketball team and the OUA silver-medal squad.

· Lauren Illman, graduating female player of the year – By scoring nine goals in 12 OUA women’s regular-season soccer games, Illman tied for third place for most goals. She finished her career with 25 goals and 36 points in 45 games. In the 2025 season, she was named to the OUA first all-star team and became the first Ravens selected to an All-Canadian team (second) in 15 years.

· Taffe Charles and Kevin Shields, co-coaches of the year – Charles picked up his fifth Ravens coach of the year award, but only the second as the men’s basketball coach. He led Carleton to the U Sports national championship gold medal and the silver medal at the OUA championship. He also won the award in 2021-22 with the men’s basketball team as well as three times with the women’s basketball squad (2010-11, 2016-17 and 2017-18). Shields celebrated his finest competition this season at the OUA nordic ski championships, when the women’s team earned its fourth consecutive points title in his fourth year, while the men regained first place overall at provincials.

· Hannah Shields, volunteer of the year – Working behind the scenes for the past four seasons, Shields, who was promoted to assistant coach for the 2025-26 season, serves as wax technician and logs numerous kilometres testing skis before races for Ravens athletes. Her understanding of all aspects of cross-country ski racing, hard work and dedication was a key factor in the women’s and men’s teams winning the OUA point titles.

· Luigi Zagaria, Fatima Ramadan and Chloe Lachance-Soulard, Ravens’ Community Volunteer Award – This new award recognized student-athletes who “demonstrated exceptional commitment to community service, while fostering a strong sense of connection and belonging within the Ravens family at Carleton University.” Zagaria, Ramadan and Lachance-Soulard were honoured for their outstanding commitment to the Ravens and Ottawa community in football, rugby and women’s soccer respectively.

The Ravens’ individual-sport MVPs were: Dorey-Havens, men’s basketball; Poulin, women’s basketball; Kevin Zhou, men’s fencing; Hope Johnson, women’s fencing; Tristan Ready, football; Dylan Rouse, men’s golf; Claire Stoney, women’s golf; Nick McCarry, men’s hockey; Hayden Serniuk, women’s hockey; Graeme Abbott, men’s nordic skiing; Helen McCulligh, women’s nordic skiing; Jacob Chang, men’s rowing; Rosemary O’Brien, women’s rowing; Sierra Hasse, women’s rugby; Caden Tomy, men’s soccer; and Lauren Illman, women’s soccer.

TWO LOCAL RINKS REACH CANADIAN MIXED DOUBLES CURLING PLAYOFFS

A pair of rinks with Ottawa connections were destined for greatness at the Canadian mixed doubles curling championship in Surrey, B.C., until they met eventual gold-medallists Victor Pietrangelo and Serena Gray-Withers of Niagara Falls.

After placing first in their pool with six consecutive wins, Jacob Horgan and Kira Brunton of the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club suffered a tough 8-7 loss to Pietrangelo and Gray-Withers in the quarterfinals. Horgan and Brunton led 7-4 entering the eighth end, but Pietrangelo and Gray-Withers counted four in the final end to advance.

In the semifinals, Ottawa Curling Club’s Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher led three different times over the first six ends, but Pietrangelo and Gray-Wither scored one in the seventh end for a 4-4 tie and stole two in the eighth to reach the championship match with a 6-4 decision.

THREE NATIONAL JUNIOR TRACK MEDALS FOR CYCLERY RACING’S ALEXANDRA FANGEAT

St. Thomas, ON’s Alexandra Fangeat of Ottawa-based The Cyclery Racing won a full set of medals at the Canadian U17 and junior track cycling championships at the new Alberta Velodrome in Edmonton.

Fangeat, Eve Buczkowski, Izzy Downing, Lili Salonen-Berscht and Addison Vivaldi (alternate) formed the winning riders in the women’s junior team pursuit. In the women’s individual junior pursuit, Fangeat placed second to Elodie Malois of Team Quebec.

Fangeat and Buczkowski partnered in the women’s junior Madison and were third.

Ottawa’s Carter de Veer, who won seven men’s U17 gold medals at the 2025 national U17 and junior track championships, did not compete this year. He was racing for the Belgian-based Cannibal-Victorious U19 development team on Friday and placed 59th at the E3 Saxo Classic men’s junior race in Germany. De Veer was 17 seconds behind the first 57 riders, who all finished with the same time as the winner.

On March 15, de Veer won the Weg Motion Drives Classic presented by Atom Koerst by a 2.7-second margin over teammate Matas Denderhoutem.

GEE-GEES’ BEATRICE BILODEAU RECOGNIZED FOR MULTIPLE TALENTS

University of Ottawa Gee-Gees women’s hockey team captain Beatrice Bilodeau uses her time well, which accounted for why she won the Marion Hilliard Award for student-athlete community service.

She received her award at the U Sports women’s hockey championship tournament, where the Gee-Gees lost 2-1 to the University of New Brunswick Reds 2-1 in a quarter-final shootout and to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 2-0 in its consolation semifinal.

Meanwhile, Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks’ goalkeeper Sarah Howell of Greely, ON, was named a second-team All-Canadian.

A second-year medical school student, Bilodeau played in every Gee-Gees game for four consecutive seasons, which covered 102 games overall. She notched a career-high seven goals and seven assists this season.

Off the ice, she has volunteered as a crisis responder with Kids Help Phone since 2022, assisted at the Festival of Sport in her hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, ON, for the past three years, and supported the alumni leadership program within Fillactive, a Canada-wide initiative bringing new physical activities to almost 15,000 teenage girls.

Two years ago, she was a leader in the Rural Outreach and Mentorship Initiative, which is a one-on-one program for high school students interested in a career in medicine. She also assists seniors living in long-term care at Gatineau’s CHSLD Ernest-Brissson.

Meanwhile at the U Sports women’s hockey championship tournament, defenders Sophie Ledain of Ottawa and Katriana Metayer of Gatineau and forward Janelle Mentor of Rockland helped the Université de Montréal Carabins to a 5-2 win over the Concordia University Stingers in the gold-medal game. It was the 11th time this season Montréal and Concordia had played each other.

The silver-medal-winning Concordia roster included Ani Robinson of Ottawa and Camille Richard of Gatineau.

CONOR FRENETTE WINS U SPORTS MEN’S HOCKEY SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD

Captain Conor Frenette is far more than a dependable point-a-game hockey forward with the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes. He also excels when it comes to showing respect and integrity for all aspects of the game.

That was noted when the Gatineau student-athlete was the R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award winner as the OUA men’s hockey most sportsmanlike player.

In 27 games this season, he scored 15 goals and added 14 assists, which extended his point-a-game average to three straight seasons. He finished among the top-five OUA goal scorers and was prominent on the powerplay with seven goals and five assists.

A second team All-Canadian, Frenette is a 2025 OUA East MVP, a gold medallist with Team Canada at the 2025 FISU Winter World University Games and a two-time OUA Queen’s Cup champion.

END NOTES

· Speed Skating Canada and sponsor Intact Insurance have joined forces to see a dozen Olympic Games, world championship and World Cup medallists visit six cities in a Canadian tour. Ivanie Blondin of Gloucester and Courtney Sarault of Moncton will be in Newmarket, ON, April 13-14 and Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa and Valérie Maltais of La Baie, PQ, will appear in Victoria April 23-24.

· Hannah Schmidt added one last medal to her 2026 season collection as she earned a bronze at the final World Cup ski cross event of the season in Sweden. In the second race, the two-time Olympian from Dunrobin placed sixth, which was her final ranking in this season’s World Cup circuit standings. Her brother Jared won the small final to place fifth in his final race a day after coming 25th. He finished seventh overall in the men’s season standings.

· Ottawa’s Jesse Luketa has signed a reserve/futures contract with the NFL’s New England Patriots. After playing his first three NFL seasons with the Arizona Cardinals (35 tackles, three sacks), he joined the Los Angeles Rams practice roster in 2025.

· The All Canadian Games will be staged in Mono, ON, Friday through Sunday and there will be three Ottawa players on the girls and boys’ rosters – Alice Veilleux and Evelyn Tounkara, both of the Capital Courts Academy, and Anthony Nnajiofor of Canada Topflight Academy.

· Ottawa Elite Prep downed Ottawa Next Level-X 84-56 in the National Capital Hoops Circuit diamond final at Algonquin College. Ottawa Elite had five players score in double-digits, led by Hatem Edali’s 17 points, while Ismael Amadou led ONL-X with 14. Smiths Falls won the premier division, Ottawa South – Dotten won the supreme division and GCBA Gaudet won the ascent division of the circuit that welcomes school, club and prep teams.

· Think you might have the talent to be an Olympian some day? The RBC Training Ground, which is Canada’s official Olympic team search program, will be staging a free testing event April 11 at the University of Ottawa’s Montpetit Hall from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The event is open to athletes ages 13 to 25. During its 11 years, the RBC Training Ground has found potential in more than 20,000 athletes and 28 athletes have competed in either the Summer or Winter Olympic Games and won a combined 12 medals. Eleven graduates appeared at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

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